Shackled
by Angel Leviathan
Summary: Do you believe in the past life?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Shackled

**Author:** Angel Leviathan

**Spoilers:** Anything, everything.

**Season:** Late Season 1

**Disclaimer:** Stargate Atlantis, characters, concept, etc, aren't mine.

* * *

_She stared out at the ocean, the folds of her peplos swaying around her feet, her arms folded and eyes glazed over. She imagined she must know how Ariadne felt, if there had ever truly been an Ariadne, abandoned on that island. She too had known what she was getting herself into and she too had been left to fend for herself. Amarante curled a stray lock of her dark hair back behind her ear and sighed, wishing she could have fallen out of love with him sooner. She had known he would leave. He had told her so and still she had insisted on seeing him. It wasn't even as if she could slip back into society. Now he was gone, she was damaged goods. No man would want to marry her now. She would live out the rest of her days in her parent's house, the sole unmarried daughter. Amarante had seen how the women of his society had behaved, as equals to the males, if not more. Then again, she'd also seen an Egyptian woman and the scorn she received from society for the rights her own people gave her. Gods forbid she should step out of place herself. There was nothing left for her now. She might as well kill herself in a loud and dramatic manner, like one of the women in the plays her brother had told her about. But, she supposed, that would only bring more shame upon her family than she already had. Amarante silently seethed; it wasn't as if she were young girl, she was a grown woman, able to make her own decisions, yet society declared she couldn't. Her dark eyes fell shut as she prepared to leave the beach and walk home. Only seconds later, her eyes flew back open as she felt arms wrap around her shoulders and a head rest against hers._

"_Thought I'd find you here."_

_Amarante whirled round, stunned to find herself staring into the eyes of her lover. "…You…"_

"_I decided to stay." Nikomedes half smiled, somewhat pleased he'd shocked her._

"…_But that means…"_

"_They've left without me. All of them, revelling in their ability to surpass-" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. They've gone, I'm here. They won't be back. They've gone to a better place. 'Ascended' you might say…"_

"_To be with the gods?" she questioned._

"They are the gods…"_ he thought. _"Or so they think."

_Amarante frowned. "Nik…you stayed behind…for me?"_

"_For you." He nodded._

"_But…" she looked away, "…I will never be a member of decent society. I might as well be a slave to my parents. I'll never be able to leave their house, I'll grow old and-"_

"_Come with me." Nikomedes held her tightly against him._

"_Go with you? Where? Being a foreigner is as bad as being a slave!" She looked up at him. "…I love you…but…our worlds won't mix…we will always be different, never belong…"_

"_We will belong," he insisted, "Away from this place."_

"_Away from here?"_

"_Far away from here."_

"_I have heard of many countries…across the water…but even they will not accept two Athenians in their societies…"_

"_Further than you can imagine." He smiled, eyes dancing. "A city long abandoned, from where we could go anywhere we wanted…"_

"_Anywhere?" Amarante echoed. "Anywhere, where nobody could bother us?"_

"_My home."_

_She blinked. "…You said you had lived with the gods…" visions of joint suicide ran through her mind._

_Nikomedes ran a hand through his raven hair and sighed, holding his right palm out. A glowing ball of energy appeared in its centre. He smirked and flicked it toward her. "Does that make me a god?"_

_She caught it, frowning. She'd seen him pull the same stunt before and at first had been impressed. That was before she had learnt he could be more human than anybody she had ever known. "…No…" She held it up as it fizzled out._

"_It's a shame you don't treat your women as we do…" he said softly, kissing her forehead. "…You could have been one of our brightest…"_

_"Amarante raised an eyebrow. "I could have been one of the most flattered."_

"_We go, tomorrow."_

"_Tomorrow?"_

"_Tomorrow."_

_

* * *

_

_A month later they had travelled to another galaxy, only to meet their end. He by his own choice, she by the hand of 'superior' beings._

_

* * *

_

"We found another recording."

"Another recording?" Elizabeth looked up from her laptop to see John Sheppard standing at the door to her office.

"Of the Ancients." He paused. "Well, they found another recording."

"They?"

"McKay and Zelenka. Another early morning search of the city." He sounded rather disgusted that anybody should be up before noon.

She shook her head. "I should have known it wasn't you." She glanced at the pocket watch on her desk with a smile. "Eleven in the morning and you'd already found something? You'd stumbled out of your quarters without a given mission before-"

"Alright, alright." John stopped her, grinning. "You win. But you gotta come see this. It's got a couple of hints to where McKay thinks there might be ZPM's."

"Hints?" She stood. "Or just wishful thinking?"

"Well, you know the Ancients and their love of secrecy and riddles…"

* * *

"What've we got?" Elizabeth questioned, blinking as her eyes adjusted to a dimly lit room. 

"Ancient recording device," McKay answered.

"We know that." John's voice carried as he entered the room, having been ambling behind. "What's on it?

"The woman talks about the Stargate, their escape to Earth, where they may have left some ZPM's nearby in-case recovering Atlantis was ever an option…"

"Let's take a look," Weir requested.

Moments later, a dark-haired woman appeared on the platform in the centre of the room, elevated so she appeared to be looking down on them. Elizabeth didn't think much of that. It was minutes into the 'speech' that the figure began that she noticed that John hadn't moved, spoken or even made any quiet snide comments.

"…John…?" she whispered.

He was staring, wide-eyed. "…I know her…"

"Yes, Major, you know one of the Ancient race, thousands of years-" McKay began.

"Hey, I'm not kidding, I've seen her before…"

"The other recording?" Elizabeth proposed. She looked him up and down before her attention was drawn back to the image. The form of another person flickered into view by the Ancient's feet. It took her several seconds to realize that the female figure, though kneeling, was evidently dead. Elizabeth took in a gasp of air, sickened. …But she couldn't tear her eyes away.

"I know her too…" John uttered.

She couldn't hear him. As she stared at the fallen woman, distant voices rang louder and louder in her mind; screams and laughter; desperate sobbing and cries of pain. She knew the figure. More than knew her. Elizabeth couldn't breathe. Knees buckling beneath her, she managed to choke out a strangled single note as she collapsed heavily to the floor in a faint.

"Elizabeth!" John caught her as she fell and gently lowered her to the ground.

"What happened?" McKay demanded.

"I don't know."

She stirred in his arms, mumbling something before her eyes opened to slits. Elizabeth smiled up at John, delighted, as if she were seeing someone else entirely. "…Nik…you made it back…let's go to Atlantis…let's go today…"


	2. Chapter 2

Elizabeth woke in the Infirmary, four hours after she had collapsed. After her brief utterings, she had fallen back into oblivion as if she had never regained consciouness at all.

In those four hours, John had not left her bedside, except to 'order' Rodney to stay and tape the recording with a digital camera. If he admitted it, he was having trouble staying conscious himself. A nagging headache lurking at the back of his mind was sending shooting pains through his skull every time he so much as twitched.

"…How're you feeling?" Carson asked, keeping his voice quiet as she stirred.

Elizabeth opened her eyes, slowly, blinking at the sudden, glaring light. "…What happened?"

"You passed out," John answered. "Four hours ago."

"Four hours?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Beckett questioned, hoping to get the story from her rather than be forced to recount events second-hand himself.

"I don't know." Elizabeth sat up slightly. "…We went to watch the recording. There was an Ancient woman talking… Then it flickered and another figure-" She cried out in pain, one hand pressed to her head as the memory hit her.

"Elizabeth!"

* * *

_"It's so dark…"_

"_It wont be for long," Nikomedes assured her, removing the cover from the block that held three ZPM's. He frowned. "I thought this place was meant to be powered down entirely…" He reached to touch a button, making dim light flood the area, that highlighted a single chamber on the wall._

_Curious, Amarante wandered from his side, eyes wide as she looked straight across to the chamber. Her eyes became slits as she caught sight of a white clad figure inside. "…Who's tha-" She didn't get to finish her question. She crumpled to the floor without another word, collapsing as if struck._

"_Mara." He ran the few steps to her and knelt beside Amarante. Nikomedes lifted her gently from the floor. "…Amarante?" he called softly. His gaze shifted from her to the chamber, where the figure of a woman stood. "Nobody stayed behind."_

_Amarante stirred in his arms, eyes still closed and features twisted in a grimace of pain. "…Hurts…" she choked out._

"_What, where, what is it?"_

"_..Head…pain…don't know." She managed to open her eyes, only to have them roll back as she passed out again._

_Nikomedes gathered her into his arms, with a final look over his shoulder at the woman in the chamber, and left the room, headed to what had been Atlantis' medical centre. Not one Ancient had stayed behind: all had fled to Earth. He had heard rumours of a human woman present in the city, due to some form of alteration of the timeline, the future of Atlantis…or…something. He - or rather, his predecessor - hadn't been paying much attention, more interested in helping save as much data as he could from their database to take with them, particularly that on Ascension. The memories and knowledge given to him had culminated in the desire to go through whatever procedure they were developing…but that had been before he had met Amarante and discovered there could be more beauty in a human soul than in those of his own people._

_

* * *

_

"What's going on?" John demanded, as Elizabeth slid back down on the bed, writhing in pain.

"I don't know," Beckett replied, snatching at a handheld scanner and at a complete loss.

"Elizabeth." The Major reached for her, pinning her arms down so she wouldn't hurt herself further. "Elizabeth, focus."

She was suddenly very still, so still that the two men present exchanged a horrified glance. Except it was John's turn to clench his jaw and stumble back a pace as a shock rushed through his nervous system.

_"Nik!"_

"_Mara! No! How can you do this? She hasn't harmed you. No. Amarante. NO!"_

"What the…" he mumbled, focus alternating from side to side frantically. "They killed her…oh god, they killed her." His gaze rested on Elizabeth and it was all too clear that John wasn't exactly himself. "Too late…he was…I…too late…I was too late to stop them."

"Major?" Carson was unsure which of the two to turn to, as John slumped back into the chair he had vacated.

"Don't show me that recording." Elizabeth's voice was weak. "Don't let me see it."

"Doctor Weir?"

"I don't understand. I can remember, but I've never." She struggled to sit up, glancing across at a vacanly staring John beside her. A hand crept to her mouth. "…That makes you, you look... But you can't be."

John stood and closed the distance between them swiftly, taking her into his arms and crushing her to him so fiercely she had to gasp for breath. "You're alive…how can you…maybe they relented…Ascension."

"John, what're you-"

"John?"

He released her to look back into her eyes. "What're you talking about?"

"Er, Major?" Carson waved a hand between the two of them.

Elizabeth's attention was claimed by Carson for all of a moment, a blank look on her face. She then stared back at John, a more determined expression on her features. "…Nik?"

"Amarante?" he replied.

"How can this be?"

John didn't seem to care and quickly held her tight to him again, before kissing her soundly and with increasing passion until Elizabeth pushed him away, shocked.

"Just what the bloody hell is going on here?" the Doctor yelped.

Elizabeth studied her second in command for a moment, then took the initiative and kissed him gently and briefly. She drew back as her mind was flooded again, with memories she believed she had no right to be experiencing. "John," she said gently. "John Sheppard. Not Nik. John. Come back."

His head lolled forward and she thought he might fall to the floor, but found him staring back at her, still holding her, seconds later. John's eyes widened ever so slightly as he took a step back and coughed, thoroughly embarrassed. "I, er…"

"Don't apologize," she uttered, though not certain why.

"Can somebody please explain just what the hell is going on here?" Carson was just short of throwing a minor fit.

McKay interrupted that very second - eliminating any chance of immediate answers - as he entered the Infirmary, waving a camera about. "Got it!" he crowed.

"Don't play it!" both John and Elizabeth snapped.

Rodney slowed to a dead halt. "Not quite the reception I was expecting."

Elizabeth shook her head, still quite bewildered. "It's me," she murmured. "It's me."

"Who's you?" Carson demanded.

"The woman on that tape…the dead woman. It's me, it's really me." She peered up at John. "…_I'm_ Amarante."


	3. Chapter 3

"Excuse me?" Carson was still having trouble taking in the scene before him. "Could somebody please explain what's going on here. This is otherwise quite a twisted dream, and, if that's the case, I'd appreciate the opportunity to wake up right now."

"Amarante…" John said softly, still gazing at Elizabeth.

She inclined her head. "I can't explain. I don't really even believe in that sort of thing."

"What sort of thing?" The Doctor waved his arms in a dramatic manner. "If I don't start getting answers, I'm sedating the pair of you for your own protection."

Weir glanced back at him. "Carson, what do we presume is the reason for humans having the Ancient gene?"

He looked rather confused. "…Any number of factors, really. Several theories. We don't know enough about the Ancients on Earth to prove anything. Descendants of interbreeding with humans, genetic manipulation. Just the result of evolving on the same planet has been put forward."

"What about reincarnation?" she questioned.

Carson frowned. "Did you hit your head when you fell?"

"No."

"With all due respect, Doctor, I think maybe you ought to speak to Doctor Heightmeyer…"

John shook his head and his shoulders slumped. "She's not kidding, Doc. Seriously, what do you think?"

"Did I just walk into a psychic convention or something? Last time I heard, this was a scientific expedition," McKay stated, completely thrown by the situation and becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

"Explain how I know who both the women on that recording are." John grimaced. "_Were_," he corrected.

"Name them," Rodney shot back, expecting a pause for the Major to quickly make up some names.

"Amarante and Serenity."

"You seem awfully certain about that."

"I am."

"You're saying that you're Amarante?" Carson pressed, addressing Elizabeth.

She nodded, hesitantly. "I can remember being her. I have her memories. I don't know, but when I saw her the pain started, and when Major Sheppard caught me, she - I - whichever one of us... It was like being thrown back in time. I knew who I really was and I knew who he was."

"Who the heck is Amarante?" Rodney demanded.

John glared at his teammate. "The dead woman at the feet of the Ancient," he said, through clenched teeth. "…She's human."

"How do you know all this?"

"Because I knew her."

"How?"

Elizabeth turned a faint shade of red. "…I…we…" She shook off her embarrassment. "We were lovers," she declared. "_They_," she amended, "They were lovers.

* * *

"…_And you fly this ship…using your mind?" Amarante enquired._

_Nikomedes nodded. "Partly. Only the others like me can use the technology…but they aren't around." He smiled. "And we are."_

"…_If only my people knew about this. They're still trying to figure out what governs the soul." A hushed exclamation escaped her as she stood and tried to peer further into the dark sky surrounding them._

_He paused, studying her for a moment. "That wasn't your language," he stated._

_She guiltily glanced back at him. "…No."_

"_That was the language of those who are settled where they call Rome."_

_Amarante nodded. "Yes."_

_He leant back in his seat. "Why do you know their words? How, even?"_

_She turned to sit back down and took a while to settle herself as she organized her thoughts."Promise you won't be angry with me?"_

"_Promise," he answered, disliking the fact that she had to ask such a thing._

_Amarante was silent for several seconds, wondering how to phrase what she had to tell. "…I…I often sat in the back of the room whilst my younger brother was being educated. Their language is being taught to many of our young people to make relations easier. I didn't learn as much as he did…but I learnt enough to…"_

"_To what?"_

_She looked up at him, brushing dark hair from her eyes. "To take up the profession many of our women have, when I was sure you would leave."_

_Nikomedes stared, stunned into a moment of queit. "You were going to become a courtesan?"_

"_You _are_ angry."_

"_You expect me not to be?"_

"_Nik, I-"_

"_You have the respect of your people, why, why would you want to do such a thing? And live among foreigners for a start. You said that was little more than being a slave."_

_Amarante shook her head. "It is not what I have heard. Their women…are much like our women in society…except for the few free women, one of whom I would have been. Educated and free to behave in a manner that their women are not. I could have done things I could never have imagined, in disgrace in Athens."_

"_You would have been little more than a prostitute," he muttered._

"…_Perhaps. But in time…I could have learned and seen things I would never have been permitted to in Athens. I wouldn't have been a wife, banished to a sewing room."_

"_You would have been somebody's mistress."_

"_If I would have to sell my body to enable the use of my mind, then I would have done so." She didn't seem nearly as repulsed by the idea as he was._

"_How could you even think of-" Nikomedes began._

"_It's easy for you." Her voice remained calm. "You have access to all this wonderful knowledge. Your people are so far advanced: you have seen and done things that seem like acts of gods to my people. You take it for granted. I would rather have been a wanted woman in Rome than a disgraced daughter in Athens." Amarante's eyes never left her lover's as he stood and moved across to her chair. He suddenly embraced her possessively._

"_You've got me now. And I'm never letting you go," Nikomedes whispered, arms tightly around her._

_She managed the barest of nods and a hint of a smile. She loved him without question, trusted him with her life…but she couldn't shake the feeling of unease that had haunted her ever since she had caught sight of the white clad woman in the clear chamber._

_

* * *

_

"I gathered that," Carson mumbled, in a wry tone. He folded his arms. "Are we sure you two aren't being manipulated by some outside alien influence?"

Elizabeth was about to form some sort of reply when McKay shot another question at John;

"Okay, so say we believe you. If Elizabeth really is the woman in the recording, who are you?"

"Who _was_ he," Beckett countered. "…This is going to get a wee bit confusing…"

"…Nik…" Weir uttered.

"Nikomedes," John confirmed.

"And he was?" Rodney asked.

"An Ancient."

"Play the recording," Elizabeth said, sitting up in bed.

"After how you reacted last time?" Carson and John replied, in unison.

"Audio only."

"Elizabeth-" Sheppard started.

"Please." She looked up at him. "Humour me."

Beckett reluctantly nodded when John remained silent. "Do it," the doctor insisted.

McKay shook his head in dismay and rewound the recording part of the way. "If anyone passes out or goes haywire on us-"

"Rodney, please," Elizabeth emplored.

He hit 'play' and kept the camera screen from their line of vision.

'_- defend Atlantis. Let this be a lesson to anybody who tries to reclaim our city before those destined to do so arrive. We will not tolerate betrayal, especially amongst our own kind, and certainly not from the primitives of Earth. We will destroy any others who attempt to reawaken the city before our descendants take on the task. This woman may have been a pawn in a more ambitious scheme; we will never know. But she and her accomplice have been dealt with. She will not be the last to die if such an attempt is made again."_

Elizabeth glanced up at John again, eyes narrowing as she took in his once again vacant state. "…John?"

_"Nik!" she cried out, unshed tears in her eyes as a golden energy blast hit her, sending her flying backward._

"_Mara! No. How can you do this? She hasn't harmed you. No. Amarante. NO!" He ran for her, already too late as she hit the floor, silently. "Oh…gods…" escaped him as a choke of a sob._

"_Finally you're right, Nikomedes. We are gods. You could have had such power. Yet you chose to remain with this…creature."_

_He knelt beside the body of his love. "…Amarante?" he breathed. _

_She didn't move. Didn't so much as twitch._

"_You didn't have to do this. She was helpless." He glared up at the woman, disgusted with the glowing aura she retained in her old form, a sign of her superiority and her Ascension. "She was helpless and you just-"_

"_You should never have brought her here."_

"_You call yourself a god?"_

"_We are what we are."_

_Nikomedes held the still form of Amarante tightly to him. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"_

"John? John!"

"Major!"

He stumbled back a pace, steadying himself against the bed. He seemed somewhat startled when Elizabeth gently took a hold of his wrist.

"What is it?" she whispered.

John turned to face her, unable to look her in the eye. "…It was my fault. It was all my fault."

She shook her head. "I refuse to believe that." Elizabeth stood. "Would it be alright if we have some time to…talk about…what's happened. Away from here. We'll return shortly, you have my word."

Carson nodded, still more confused by the second. "Yes. I have full scans of yourself and Major Sheppard. I just ask that you return when I request it and that Doctor McKay help me search the room where you found this recording."

"Why?" Rodney blinked.

"So I can check for any mind-altering technology."

John nodded. "…Go for it."

"Rodney, please assist Carson," Elizabeth requested. She started from the room. "John?"

He followed her, not certain whether he was more Nikomedes or John Sheppard in that moment.


	4. Chapter 4

They stood in silence on the balcony across from the command centre for many minutes, both staring into the ocean. It was Elizabeth who broke their mirrored poses first, and even then it wasn't with words. She stepped closer to John, reaching carefully with one hand to turn his head to hers, then kissed him softly, eyes closed, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She broke away but didn't move, staying close to him when one of his hands crept to rest on her hip. Elizabeth's brow furrowed and she searched his eyes for reaction. "That's so strange," she said quietly.

"What?" John questioned, keeping his voice low.

"…I remember doing that…" she whispered. In an instant she seemed to switch straight back to duty and took a step back, breaking their contact, and leant against the railings.

"They killed you," he stated, voice strangely devoid of any emotion.

"…I know…"

"They killed you and I… Those bastards, I wasn't fast enough." This time his tone was laced with barely contained hatred for those who had slaughtered her in cold blood.

She tilted her head. "You remember that much?"

John looked away, as if he were ashamed. "I remember you crying out for me to help you as they took your life."

Her voice was rather faint. "…I…I don't remember dying."

"I think I remember it enough for both of us," he answered, bitterly.

"I just…" Elizabeth glanced at the floor before she looked back at him. "I remember you. Everything about you…and how I loved you."

He reached for her and held her fiercely against him, stealing her breath and stunning her into an almost defensive posture. "I remember the pain that I caused you because I loved you."

"My heart was my own to give," she replied.

"I should never have let you." John shook his head. "Maybe then-"

"Maybe then we wouldn't be here and another present day would be occurring." She pulled back to look at him. "No, Nik, I wouldn't change anything."

He frowned. "You just called me Nik."

Elizabeth looked a little shocked. "I... It just happened."

* * *

"We can't go yet."

"We have to go soon!" she exclaimed. "I can't stand this much longer. Even slaves are looking at me as if I'm the dirt under their feet."

"…My people never did get on well with yours…"

"Some of you were kind. Others were just vindictive. All that power and the tormenting the people of my city. And always to be worshipped as gods." Amarante shook her head in disgust.

"It's a wonder you let me anywhere near you."

"I thought you were of Athens."

"And if you had known the truth from the start?" Nikomedes enquired.

She sighed, turning from the window, and returned to perch on the edge of the bed. "Then I would have wondered why you were associating with such a lowly being as myself."

His eyes flashed with a rush of anger as he reached for her, catching her wrists, and pinned them above her head. "Don't ever call yourself that again."

Amarante didn't fight. "Why not?" she shot back, passive. "It's what I am."

"You're_ not a lowly being. None of you are. They didn't see your potential. But _you_ are certainly not a lowly being. You're bright, you're intelligent, you can see beyond your socially inflicted boundaries. You question everything." _

"That is not a good thing-"

"Your heart is always in the right place. You would love your worst enemy if you saw good in them," he continued.

She still didn't struggle to be released, though the grip he had on her wrists grew tighter. "I am one person among many. I'm of little significance."

"You're wrong." Nikomedes lowered his head to hers and kissed her passionately. "You're wrong," he whispered. "You could change the world if you tried."

She smiled faintly. "…But I can't. And I won't. Because I'm going to Atlantis with you."

"Maybe in another lifetime."

* * *

"…Are we sure somebody or something isn't messing with our heads?" she breathed.

"I don't know," John replied, tone even. "But can you tell me that when you first stepped through the 'Gate here, you didn't even get a split second of deja-vu?" He paused. "I mean you, _Elizabeth_, not you, _Amarante."_

"I assumed it was split-second sensory deprivation," Elizabeth answered. "Or side-effects from the 'Gate travel."

"And when we found this balcony, how did you know where it was?"

* * *

_"If this city is underwater, why are there structures beyond the doors we can't access?" Amarante glanced back over her shoulder, hand pressed against the multicoloured glass of the door before her._

_"The city wasn't always underwater."_

_"It sank?"_

_"We sank it."_

_"…You…sank it…" she seemed most confused._

_Nikomedes joined her at the door and leaned against it. "We were at war and we didn't want our enemy to take the city."_

_"Like our battles with those barbaric-"_

_"They call themselves 'Persians'," he chided._

_"Barbaric people," she continued, stubbornly, "who destroyed our Acropolis all those years ago? Or so they say."_

_"You know, you probably seem quite barbaric to them too, you know." Nikomedes grinned._

_"I'm well aware of that." She nodded, trying to keep a straight face. "But anyway…your enemy would have destroyed your city?"_

_"Worse. Taken all the technology and gained access to another galaxy."_

_"So…your people sank the city and came to our world?"_

_"Yes."_

_Amarante turned back to the door and tapped it with her finger. "So, what was this?"_

_"A balcony." He smiled._

_"I should have liked to see it."_

_"If I could raise the city to the surface, I would show you, you know." He looped an arm around her waist, bringing her closer._

_"I know." She stood on her tip-toes to kiss him, laughing softly._

* * *

"I don't really know." Elizabeth couldn't quite place the feeling. "I just…did. I stepped out and there it was."

"You knew."

"I wouldn't exactly say that."

John broke away from her and paced to the far end of the balcony, worrying her with his abrupt change in mood. "I've done this twice now. Taken you to this city and put you in danger."

"If you'll remember, _you_ followed _me_ to Atlantis," she insisted.

"Same difference. Same city. Still danger. Still scared I'll come back one day and you won't be here." He shook his head and cursed under his breath. "I did this. I alerted the Wraith to Atlantis. To you."

"Stop blaming yourself. I don't blame you," Elizabeth snapped.

"I do."

"It was my choice to make. I wasn't love sick or blind." She advanced toward him.

"Well maybe I was, risking your life." John stared back at her, eyes wide and pain clearly reflected in them. "Gods, Mara, I got you killed."

"Better than social death and eternal solitude of disgrace."

He lunged for her, hands gripping her hips, and forced her against the back of the balcony, neatly pinning her against the wall. He kissed her without hesitation, urgently and with increasing passion as he felt her respond. "…I love you…"

She sighed softly, nuzzling at his neck and gasping for breath. "I love you too…"

"This isn't us speaking," he uttered, kissing her again.

"I know," Elizabeth answered, unwilling to stop and desperate for him to continue. "But it is," she whispered, "Let them have this…us…have this."

And he wasn't going to argue with that reasoning.


	5. Chapter 5

John and Elizabeth were still a rather interesting shade of red when they reluctantly returned to the Infirmary, as they had promised. 

"And just what did you learn from your little talk?" Carson asked, practically glaring at them as they sat side by side on one of the Infirmary beds.

"I remember more than Elizabeth," John answered, not thinking it might be strange to be referring to her by her first name.

Elizabeth stared at the floor for a moment. "I remember everything about…Nikomedes…but I don't remember a lot else. I remember most of being with him. Little else."

"And you can both just access these memories at will?"

"Not at will," she replied.

"But you both remember _being_ these people? You don't see yourselves, you see through their…your…eyes?" the Doctor pressed.

"I _am_ Amarante, Carson. I don't remember being her. I remember being _me_," Elizabeth insisted.

John was about to add something when the Infirmary comm system activated.

"_Unscheduled 'Gate activation!"_

Both were gone from the Infirmary at a running before they had a chance to hear Carson's exasperated exclamation.

"Oh, bloody hell..."

* * *

Weir ran through the command centre. "IDC?" she questioned, pausing to catch her breath. Getting no instant reply, she ran from there to the top of the stairs, even as her instincts screamed at her not to.

"It's Robins' team."

Elizabeth hovered on the top step leading toward the 'Gate. "Lower the shield!"

"There'll be incoming fire!"

"Just do it!" she snapped. She had to duck almost instantly to avoid being hit by an energy blast as her orders were followed. She nearly fell down the stairs, trying to regain her balance, and only succeeded in not falling the whole way as she awkwardly stumbled a few steps down.

"Mara." John swiped a P-90 off one of the military personnel running to aid those already around the 'Gate. When he got to the top of the stairs, he grabbed Elizabeth's wrist and yanked her back up the steps, standing in front of her, and barely noticed as she fell to the floor.

"What are you-" she began, angry at his behaviour and not wanting to be seen as incapable, when suddenly she really didn't care.

* * *

"…_Amarante?"_

_Her eyes flickered open and she peered this way and that before resting her gaze on Nikomedes. The pain was gone but she felt shaken to her very core. She reached for his hand. "…What happened to me?"_

"_I don't know." he answered."You fainted after seeing that woman."_

"_Who was she?" Amarante slowly sat up, blinking._

"_I don't know that either." He seemed very concerned at his lack of definite answers. "When they spoke of Atlantis, they always said nobody stayed behind. Not one of us. I don't understand why she's in that stasis chamber."_

"…_Stasis…chamber?" _

_Nikomedes reached out to circle his arms around her waist and set her on the floor. "It's supposed to keep a person from ageing: time supposedly stands still. Except it doesn't, it just moves at a mere fraction of the rate that it would."_

"_Maybe they lied." She tried to set her appearance to rights, adjusting her hair and dress. She was too ready to assume secrecy and betrayal on the part of his people, too influenced by his opinions. "Maybe they left somebody behind to guard the city."_

_He shook his head. "Everybody left. They had to. Otherwise there was the risk the enemy could capture one of us and learn everything."_

"_Weren't you there? Wouldn't you know?" Amarante questioned._

_He smiled slightly. "I'm not _that_ old," he joked. He draped an arm around her shoulders and they began to walk slowly from the Infirmary. "I was born on your world. I think all of us must have been born there by now. Some of those who lived in this galaxy used stasis chambers in rotation to retain the original knowledge as long as possible. They even found a way to transfer all memory to a descendant." He snorted, though he had gone through the procedure and remembered living in the city. "Hence a lot of stuck up people going around believing they lived here. Thinking they're the 'originals' of our race, not us lower down born on Earth."_

_Amarante paused in thought, blushing as she considered something. "…Have any of your people ever…had children…with my people? I assumed not, due to the behaviour of both sides when they learnt of our attachment…"_

"_They have," he confirmed. "Some in secret, others made formal families, but it was one way or the other. They made them abandon everything of our race, live as one of your people. They even forced them to leave when the time came. But yes, there are children, entire generations with our blood in their veins. It has been thousands of years, after all."_

_She looked up at him, shy. "So we could have…"_

_Nikomedes smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Yes, we could have children if you wanted."_

_Her smile mirrored his as she bobbed her head and remained silent._

_He halted outside a room, touching her arm and pulling her back as she tried to go inside. "She's in there," he stated._

"_I don't understand how I fainted just from seeing a woman I've never seen in my life," Amarante thought aloud.  
_

"…_Neither do I…" was the response. "Stay here for a moment, I'm going to try and restore some power. Maybe find out who she is."_

"_But-"_

"_I don't want you getting hurt again."_

_She sighed and nodded, leaning back against the wall of the corridor._

_Nikomedes headed inside the relatively small room, pausing to stand before the stasis chamber. The woman inside had shoulder length dark hair, wavy, unkempt, beginning to fade to grey. He didn't recognise her. Even from historical records. How long had she been in there to have aged so much? Unless she had gone into the chamber that old. Had she been there since they abandoned Atlantis? Maybe they had left one behind, with their longer life-span, to facilitate the reawakening of the city? Somebody who knew everything they did. He studied her. Even in the stasis induced sleep, she didn't look peaceful. She looked worried. Some had even slept with smiles on their faces, yet she didn't. Perhaps she even looked afraid. Had she been forced to remain behind?_

"_She looks unhappy." Amarante's voice was quiet, from behind him._

_Nikomedes whirled round. "Mara-"_

"_I'm okay," she told him, one hand pressed to her head, the pain refusing to leave._

"_No, you're not."_

"_Let me be," she said. Amarante continued to gaze up at the solitary figure. "Has she been here…since your people abandoned this city?"_

"_I don't know," he said softly._

_She exhaled slowly. "I don't think I could cope with being alone for so long."_

_

* * *

_

Three of the four expected team members all but fell through the 'Gate, two still firing. Waiting for the order to raise the shield, the personnel of the command centre did so anyway when they got no such demand from Weir.

"We lost Vaness," one of the survivors stated, voice hoarse.

"God, they got her…I…those bastards got her…" another began.

"I should've been looking out for her…"

John took no notice of the scene before him and merely hauled Elizabeth to her feet. He dropped the P-90 and dragging her along behind him, back to the command centre. She was fighting - not physically - demanding answers to a string of questions that seemed to have no relevance to the situation.

"What were you doing, running out there like that?" he shouted.

"Trying to see-" she began, faltering. "Trying to…" Then she frowned, deeply concerned. "…Make sure…my people were okay?"

"Your people?" John questioned.

"I don't know," she mumbled. Elizabeth looked around. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Who are all these people?"

He realized that a great deal of people were staring at them. "Temporal distortion?" he tried.

"Where are we?"

"Atlantis."

"Major? Doctor?" somebody called out to them.

They didn't respond.

Carson was rather concerned when he was asked to remove 'Amarante' and 'Nikomedes' from the command centre…


	6. Chapter 6

On finally escorting his patients back to the Infirmary, Carson held his hands up in a defensive gesture before they had a chance to start asking questions or panic. "Alright, before anyone even bloody well thinks of launching off into their own little worlds, what happened out there?"

It was Ford, standing beside who everyone presumed was John, who spoke first. "I don't think we have the Major and Doctor Weir here, Doc."

Carson's face fell and he would've liked a chair to collapse back into. "Aw no..."

Amarante-Elizabeth backed away, completely baffled. "What's going on?" she asked softly.

"Mara, stay with me." Nikomedes-John gripped her arm and ushered her behind him.

"Mara?" the doctor echoed. "Okay… Am I right in thinking I have Nikomedes and Amarante here?"

"How do you know my name?"

"Because I know you."

"I don't know you."

"Aye, that may be the case, but hear me out."

"I don't recognize anyone," Amarante-Elizabeth whispered.

"You're both in Atlantis. The year is 2005," Carson continued.

Nikomedes-John stared. "2005? How have over two thousand years passed?"

"What are you staring at?" Amarante-Elizabeth shot at McKay, who was frowning at her in a confused fashion.

"I, er, nothing, I just, you know, know you," Rodney answered.

"I've never seen any of you before in my life," she stated She gripped Nikomedes-John's shirt. "If _these_ are your people, I want to leave, now," she hissed.

"They aren't my people," he murmured.

"You're the leaders of this city," Carson tried to explain.

"Leaders?" Nikomedes-John echoed.

"I know nothing about Atlantis." Amarante-Elizabeth declared.

"You may not, but Elizabeth does," the doctor stressed.

"Elizabeth?"

"Your name is Elizabeth Weir…"

"My name is Amarante." She was adamant about that.

"Your name _was_ Amarante."

Her voice rose. "I _am_ Amarante."

"No, you're not." Carson shook his head. "You're Elizabeth Weir. And we'd quite like her back now."

"Nik, I want to leave here, now," Amarante-Elizabeth insisted.

"Wait." Nikomedes-John hesitated. "Who am I?"

"John Sheppard."

"I don't know that name."

Her voice rose in pitch and volume again. "Neither do I. Let's go..!"

Nikomedes-John glanced around the room at the personnel around him. "Can we go?" he questioned.

"I'm afraid not," Carson replied.

It all happened so quickly that it was a miracle that they managed to restrain them both. John snapped his elbow back, catching Teyla head on in the face, and sent her sprawling to the floor. Elizabeth tried to make a break for it, only to be almost immediately restrained when it became apparent her Athenain-self wasn't trained in any form of combat, whilst John lunged for Ford. It took three military personnel to restrain him.

Beckett took the opportunity to empty the contents of a syringe into John's shoulder, ignoring Elizabeth's howl of protest. Unfortunately, she knew she was next, and redoubled her struggling, making it all the more difficult for him to sedate her.

Teyla slowly picked herself up off the floor, blinking rapidly and trying restore order to her mind. "Are we to believe what they say?"

"Would the John Sheppard you know do that to you?" Carson demanded.

"If we were sparring-"

"If you weren't sparring, girl, use your head."

"She did…" McKay muttered.

The doctor sighed deeply. "Help me lift them onto the beds."

* * *

_Nikomedes stood, forced to abandon the body of his lover, and watched in a distantly detached trance as the being before him destroyed what had been Amarante completely. A harsh laugh escaped him as he stared steadily across at one of his own. "Destroying the evidence?"_

"_One day our descendants will claim this city as their own. They will not need to know such a pathetic attempt to take away their birthright was made." The Ancient 'woman' was shorter than he, almost fairy-like in her delicate appearance, her raven hair cropped and falling perfectly straight to her shoulders. She didn't move unless it was absolutely necessary, waiting for some reaction on his part._

_He blinked and shook his head. They called that perfection? The ultimate power? Not a hair out of place, not a fold on her long dress that wasn't deliberate. __White…supposedly pure. Nothing perfect, nothing pure about their hearts. Could she even choose how she appeared? Early experiments with Ascension had said so. No need to remain as the physical form they once had. He felt sickened to his very core, mind reeling, not only from seeing the woman he loved killed and obliterated in a matter of moments, but from what his people had become. Believed themselves to be so superior. The woman before him might have the appearance of an otherworldly goddess, but nothing more. _

_Nikomodes brought a slightly shaking hand to cover his eyes for several seconds. "She was utterly harmless. They were all harmless. We invaded their world-"_

"_Their world was originally ours. Or did you never read the histories?"_

"_You think the histories matter?" he shouted. "How will history judge you? The ultimate power, but still not quite smart enough. Throwing your power around; appearing before them as gods; scaring them witless. In the end they believed you all controlled every aspect of their world, you know? Maybe that's what you wanted. Generations worshipped as gods. Never mind those of us who wanted a quiet life. Never mind those of us who didn't want anything from them! How many civilisations will you interfere with now? Just a wave of your hand, a planet gone. Don't like the way something turned out? Oh well, we'll go back and fix it. You call that progress? You call that living?"_

"_We call that immortality," she answered, unfazed by his tirade, "and you are foolish to condemn it."_

"_Just to live and love for a few years. A few years was all they had...we outlived them by years…wasn't that ever enough? You never saw their potential. Regardless of what they might be whenever you intend them to claim this city. It's been abandoned for thousands of years already and you were worried that some little_ human _might inhabit it for another thirty?" Tears of rage ran down his face. "You were afraid of a _human being_? How the mighty have fallen."  
_

_"You would have drained the power," she insisted. "Atlantis would never have survived."_

"_You're pathetic," he spat._

"_Your opinion is meaningless." She took a step toward him. "You will now perform the Ascension procedure. Or I will do it for you."_

_Nikomedes laughed outright. "Become one of you? Better go check on another planet you're playing with, because I'm not joining the club."_

"_You will-"_

"_No, I won't." He began to glow with a light golden energy. "No."_

_She barely reacted. "You would rather suicide than become one of us?"_

_The light pulsed brighter and his eyes shone with the same colour. "I would rather suicide than become capable of your deeds." His heart shone bright, pure, white. "I would rather suicide than live without her."_

"_You are a disgrace to us all."_

"_But I am not a disgrace to her," Nikomedes said softly, energy spent and life-force gone before he hit the floor._

_

* * *

_

"Well what do we do now?" Ford sighed, his eyes flitting between the two beds.

"Are we sure this is not a mental disorder?" Teyla asked.

"It's a mental disorder alright," Carson nodded, "but not your average 'go talk it over' issue. Are we really to believe in all this? Souls and past lives…?"

"Do a full scan. Ensure there is nothing inhabiting their systems," she offered.

"Are we sure this isn't just some joke?" McKay shrugged.

"I do not believe even the Major would take a joke this far, let alone Doctor Weir…"

"…There've been rumours around the city about the two of them…but I don't think they'd pull something like this…" Ford mumbled. "They seem as confused as each other. If they were making this up, or something was forcing them, wouldn't it be like a set script?"

"Doctor Weir said they were lovers," Carson mused.

"Sheppard and Elizabeth?" McKay gawped.

"Amarante and Nikomedes."

"Oh."

"Check out that recording and the whole room again. There has to be something we're missing. Maybe some airborne drug…" Carson quckly destroyed his own reasoning. "…That's only affecting them." He shook his head. "I'll perform every test I can think of. But if it shows nothing, then what do we do?"

"More pressing question: what if we can't get Elizabeth and the Major back?" McKay added.

"We have to," Ford stated.

"What if we can't?"

…Nobody wanted to offer any more answers…


	7. Chapter 7

She woke in a room that she knew to be her quarters, her eyes adjusting to the darkness slowly, and was surprised to find herself alone. Though she had the form of Elizabeth Weir, it was Amarante who sat up slowly, blinking, and rested against the wall, hands folded in her lap. She remembered being knocked out and watching Nik…John…being sedated before her. Sleep had brought her two things: complete control of the body that somehow was hers and yet was not; and all the memories of herself in addition. Both her selves. Amarante _and _Elizabeth. The memory of she and John…Nik - she still had no idea what to call him - kissing on the balcony was the most recent, the most prominent, before the sudden Infirmary scene. She was Amarante…and she wasn't. Whoever Elizabeth was, her persona was present, silent, tucked away in the back of her mind, a presence she felt and yet could not separate from her own consciousness.

Amarante stood up and wandered across to the window, closer to the dim light of evening streaming in through the panes of multi-hued glass. She glanced about her quarters, Elizabeth's…but she _was_ Elizabeth, technically, so by all rights, hers, she convinced herself. Stepping closer to the far wall, she recognized the people from ragged, hastily pinned photos, as ghosts. Not from her life. Amarante realized, with great regret, that it wasn't those in the pictures before her that were the ghosts. They still walked the corridors of Atlantis. She had been long dead before they had even arrived. From what she knew of Elizabeth, she found it quite ironic that now it was she, the lowly human, who was in command of the Ancients' holy city. She hoped that high and mighty Ancient woman who had killed her was still in existence somewhere to see her triumph. She walked to the door, expecting it to open when she hit the release. Nothing. She hit it again. Still nothing happened. Was she now a prisoner in her own city? She had to stop thinking of herself as Elizabeth. For now, they were separate - she was sleeping, somewhere. Sighing, Amarante sat back down on the edge of the bed, awaiting some explanation. Suddenly unnerved, she caught her reflection in a nearby mirror.

The features that gazed back at her were the ones of the woman she had seen in the chamber all those years ago.

* * *

Nikomedes drifted back to consciousness, suddenly aware of a sharp pain in his wrist and an ache each time he took a breath. He remembered dying. 

"…_I…I don't remember dying…"_

"_I think I remember it enough for both of us…"_

Amarante didn't. He could remember the blaze of fire, the scream of agony he refused to let escape as his own energy destroyed him. He could even remember the thoughts running through his mind at the time. Was it possible she didn't remember death because she didn't see it coming? Then again, he supposed, he didn't remember death itself. He just remembered the pain…and then nothing. Did she remember the pain? Maybe it was for the best that she didn't… Nikomedes opened his eyes to find a familiar face staring down at him. The doctor who had sedated him. He put a name to the face: Carson. That knowledge wasn't his own. That knowledge belonged to the owner of the body he inhabited. His own, he supposed, though somewhere, in the back of his mind, someone or some part of him protested that thought violently.

"Major?"

Nik narrowed his eyes, hesitant.

"Not the Major then?" Carson assumed. "Nikomedes, I take it?"

"What's going on?" He looked around, and, not seeing Amarante, demanded, "Where's Mara?"

"Doctor Weir?"

"Amarante."

"_Amarante_ as you call her, is in her quarters. She was fit to be released from the Infirmary. It wasn't wise to keep her here."

"Why am _I_ here?" Nik sat up and winced at the same time.

"You put up a wee bit of a fight, if you recall. Bruising to the ribs and dehydration." Carson started forward to remove the drip before his patient decided to do it for himself.

"Dehydration?"

"Major Sheppard has to learn there are substances other than coffee to drink around here."

"Then you know I'm Nikomedes?" he questioned, one hand to his head as the room blurred around him.

"…Yes…" Carson replied. "If there is such a person and you aren't some foreign being inhabiting the Major."

"It's me, Doc, it's me," he insisted, "I'm John Sheppard…Nikomedes…whatever. We're the same person."

"Aye, and you'll be telling me Doctor Weir and Amarante are the same person too."

"They are."

"We're the same soul. It's different personalities…people…" He hissed as fire blazed through his mind.

Beckett folded his arms. "I think Major Sheppard would like a word, am I right?"

"It's nothing." Nikomedes muttered. "Let me see Amarante."

"If we want answers, it's not as if we have a choice here, is it?"

He stood up. "No. You don't." He found it strange that he knew the way to Elizabeth's quarters without having to ask. He halted at the door to the Infirmary. "She runs Atlantis. She's in charge of everything here. …This is her city."

"And?"

Nik smiled. "They killed her. They killed her for being a simple little human and here she is running their precious city. I call that poetic justice.."

"By modern or Ancient standards?"

He smirked. "Both."

Beckett sighed. If he weren't so concerned with getting John Sheppard back, he was sure he could have got on with Nikomedes quite well.

* * *

A further fifteen minutes of silence had got her no further to freedom. Amarnate stood pressed up against the door, trying to listen to the voices outside. She was sure she could hear people out thre. Or was it her imagination? "Hello?" she called. "Excuse me? Hello?" She sighed, about to turn away, and was stunned when the door slid open and she fell forward into the corridor, right into Nikomedes' arms. Unfortunately, the first word out of her mouth was not the one he wanted to hear. "John." 

"Mara." He kept to the name he knew her by. "You alright?"

"Yes…" She peered round at the others in the corridor. She could name each of them, but was afraid of offending them.

"Well, what now?" Nik gave a helpless shrug. "What do you expect us to do?"

"Use the chair." It was McKay who spoke first.

"Now hang on a moment, that was just a suggestion," Carson countered.

"Did you not suggest that the Major try accessing the database by decoding segments?" Teyla reminded the scientist.

"I did…but the chair would be quicker…"

"Chair…" Amarante muttered. "…What is that?"

"It's a system that allows those with the Ancient gene to access Atlantis' systems."

A memory flickered. A picture. Nikomedes in the chair. She was watching. She was watching and then…a sound…and the light struck her…pain. The presence in the back of her mind quickly fought for control as her knees weakened and she fell to the floor, eyes rolling back as the world went black. Elizabeth Weir cursed as her chance was lost and she too was dragged into oblivion.

Nikomedes knelt beside her. "…Mara." He gathered her into his arms.

McKay exhaled slowly, exasperated. "So I take it this all has something to do with the activating Atlantis? The chair system?"

"What, so we take them there and hope something happens?" Ford snapped.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

They all stared at Carson, awaiting 'orders'.

"Unfortunately, it sounds like a plan…" Beckett agreed.

Nikomedes shook his head. "Not now. Not until she wakes up. I'm not dragging her there against her will. We wait." He glared up at them all, gently lifting Amarante as he stood. "I am _not_ taking her back to where she died just because you think it's the right course of action." He nudged the door release for her quarters. "I'll tell you when she wakes up. Post guards, whatever you want to do, but I'm not hurting her like this again."

Teyla blinked as the door closed. "Where they died?"

"And they didn't think to tell us this before," Rodney muttered.

"I do not think it was the first thing on their minds..."


	8. Chapter 8

Nikomedes sat on the edge of the bed, studying the expression on Amarante's face. She lay on her side, facing him, and, though she slept, her expression was far from peaceful. It was almost as if she was concentrating on something nobody else could see. About to reach out and touch her, Nik pulled his hand back as she stirred.

Amarante blinked several times as she opened her eyes and looked nervously around. "Nik?"

"I'm here," he said quietly.

She sat up, catching sight of her reflection in the mirror on the other side of the room. "I know her," she uttered. "She's the woman we found in the chamber, when the pain first started." She pressed her fingers to her temples. "It's gone now…" She looked back at him. "How can she be me? How can this…be me?"

He reached for her and held her tightly, afraid of losing her again. "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know." He pulled away and trailed a finger down her jaw line. "But you're her, you're really her. They call you Elizabeth."

She shook her head. "I'm not Elizabeth. I mean…not really, am I?" Amarante looked up at him, narrowing her eyes. "You've changed so much."

"I suppose." He held his hands out between them, staring down at them. "But this isn't my body…well, it is, but..." He laughed quietly. "It's John's. Not mine."

"But you are John."

"And you're Elizabeth."

She opened her mouth to protest, or correct to him, when he beat her to it.

"Not _yet_, perhaps," Nikomedes added.

"How can she have been in Atlantis when we were? If I'm her and she's me, how?" she questioned.

He shrugged, helpless. "Maybe it's something she's destined to do. I can't explain it. But it would explain the pain you were in; several versions of the same person can't exist as you were trying to."

"What?"

Nik forced himself to remember that, despite different features staring back at him, the woman before him was still of Ancient Greece. Very young and rather naïve, not that she would have ever have accepted it being said of her. Though, he thought, Amarante had only ever been naïve compared to his people, not to hers. Taking control of her own destiny was something almost unheard of amongst her fellow women. She didn't fit. She didn't conform. But that was what he had always loved about her.

"What do you mean?" she insisted.

He smiled. "Unless I could catch you up on several thousand years worth of physics, it would take a while to explain…"

"I know what Elizabeth knows." Amarante paused in thought. "Though I do not understand how it works." She suddenly laughed and reached to ruffle her hands through his hair. "She likes your hair. She's considered doing this on several occasions."

"She has?" He blushed, something almost unheard of for John Sheppard, yet not Nikomedes. "He finds you very attractive." He paused, as she had. "…Very." He censored the other thoughts that hit him at the same time.

She smiled and leaned forward to kiss him as his arms moved around her waist, one hand pushing her down onto the bed. Their lips met and she hesitated for a moment, tilting her head. "Who are we?" she whispered.

"I don't know," he murmured. "I don't care…" He kissed her again.

"…Are there not people still outside?"

"Easily taken care of…" Nik reluctantly released her and sat up, closing his eyes.

"Nik! You can't. You're not the same person. You're of _my_ people now."

He opened his eyes and winked, looking back at her. "Not entirely…"

"You can't. John can't. Nik, no."

"John can't because he doesn't know how. Maybe he should learn…" He closed his eyes again, concentrating as a faint light enveloped his body. He touched the minds of the group still outside, all the while searching John's memories for a location and building up enough energy to shift them all at once. His shoulders slumped and he fell back onto the bed as the light dimmed, sparks dancing at his fingertips for a few seconds before they vanished completely.

"Nik." Amarante laid her hands on his chest, panicked. "Nik! What did you do?"

He exhaled slowly. "Dumped the ones outside in the main control room…the one by the Stargate." He winced. "You're right, this body is different."

"Listen to me next time.".

"Maybe…" he teased, pulling her down to him.

"Nik, we can't," she whispered.

"Yes we can…"

"They'll be back here in a few minutes."

"More than a few. I immobilised them for a while. Let's see how they react to that." He kissed her leisurely. "And in the meantime…"

* * *

"_This is it. This was their home. All those years ago. At least they still teach us about this place, when they don't try manipulating our minds to make us think we remember it." He shook his head in disgust. "Pure blood, half-breeds, humans…what does it really matter?" Nikomedes glanced back into the ship to see his lover hesitating before stepping out into the bay._

"…_It's…so…"_

"_Different?"_

"_I thought perhaps you were exaggerating your claims." Amarante smiled nervously. "You did always turn on the charm."_

"_You regret leaving your people?" he asked._

_Her expression altered immediately as she stepped off the ramp and made contact with the city of Atlantis. "No," she stated._

"_Would you really have gone ahead with the courtesan plan?"_

"_Yes."_

_Nikomedes reached for her hand, guiding her away from the ship and trying to see where exactly they could leave the bay from, the minimal lighting almost pitch black to her, half lit for him._

"_Would you have left when they demanded it of you if it weren't for me?" she asked._

_He sighed. "…I don't know. We both would have been outcasts whatever paths we took."_

"_Perhaps Egypt would have accepted us."_

"_Oh no." He led her toward the door. "Not there."_

"_Why not?" She frowned._

"_More damage. More foreigners. It's taken them this long to rebuild a proper society after their last…visitors…"_

"_Others like your people?"_

_Nikomedes shuddered. "Not exactly. But not human, not like you. However much they pretended."_

_She nodded, more to herself. "We really were quite stupid, you know."_

"_Humans?"_

_Amarante nudged him. "No. Us. You and me."_

"_How so?"_

"_Expecting people to accept us, our relationship, anything, when we were breaking all the laws of both out societies. How could we expect the normal rules to apply to us when we broke them all?"_

"_We didn't break them…we…bent them…" he mused._

"_We destroyed everything we touched."_

"_Let us hope we don't destroy this city then." Nikomedes shot her a grin. "Let's go wake it up._

_

* * *

_

"-another thing." McKay slumped to the floor, shaking his head, momentarily dazed. He looked around to see half the command centre staff staring at him. Not just him, but the other figures collapsed around him. "What's going on? What just happened?" he demanded. "I'm dreaming. That's it. I'm dreaming. No control of my mind. Makes sense. Explains everything really."

"Then I also share your delusion," Teyla mumbled, sitting up..

"Dream, not delusion."

"Whatever," Ford interrupted. "What happened? One minute we were outside Doctor Weir's quarters…now we're here…"

"You have been frozen for almost an hour…" Tsuki Hama stated, staring down at them.

"An hour?" Carson clambered to his feet. "How did this happen?"

"You just appeared," she elaborated. "In a flash of bright light."

"I smell an Ancient," Rodney muttered.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Major Sheppard."

"What?"

"Who else? Can't have been Doctor Weir. She was unconscious for a start. Who else would bother to move us?"

Aiden's eyes widened. "Why would he want to?"

"They wouldn't," Rodney began.

"Would not what?" Teyla asked.

Carson looked rather stunned. "I hope you gentlemen aren't thinking what I think you're thinking."

"Lovers' reunion?"

"…Hell."

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

When she realized that she finally had control of her body again, Elizabeth was very aware of her racing heart and of the fact that she was gasping for breath. Neither of these could be ignored, and nor could the presence of John, who covered her possessively. She shared Amarante's consciousness as her own, and, if she was honest with herself, she really didn't know for how long she might have had control. She suspected it had only been for the past few moments, but had been so caught up in Amarante's - her own…she wasn't sure…she _was_ Amarante - _their_ emotions to notice. She didn't move for several seconds, trying to slow her breathing and wondering what exactly she should do. Did it matter? If they were to remain as a tangle of confused souls for the rest of their lives, or even if they weren't, could they forget? Even if she was certain she wanted to, and she couldn't even decide that. Elizabeth rested her head against John's to whisper in his ear. "John…?"

"…Elizabeth?" Head buried against her neck, he murmured her name against her skin. "Elizabeth?" He drew back and brushed sweat-curled hair from her eyes.

She nodded, mutely, not able to produce an adequate response, cursing herself at the same moment. She wasn't sure whether he looked more confused and lost than she felt.

"…I'm sorry," he breathed.

Elizabeth closed her eyes. Those had not been the words she had wanted to hear. For a split-second, at least. But that was the way things had to be and...she knew that they shouldn't be behaving in such a manner. Even if she was very quietly, in the depths of her mind, glad of the excuse. "Don't be…" she answered, keeping her eyes closed. She had very much preferred the desire she had previously seen in his eyes to the shame she was sure she would see now.

"No," John continued. "I'm sorry for meaning - wanting - all this."

As she opened her eyes, startled, he kissed her, hesitantly, only assured when she didn't push him away. He deepened their embrace, wanting very much for her to be his without someone else's - no matter if they were supposedly his too - emotions involved.

She immediately decided to surrender and stop fighting the various reasoning and arguments going on her in mind. As he kissed her again, a whimper escaped her, and, whilst she knew it would be taken as desire, she fought for control once again as she felt her past self's consciousness returning. So she kissed him hungrily, hoping to lose herself in passion again, just so she wouldn't know exactly when she was denied the experience of loving him herself.

* * *

"Well." 

"Well what?"

"Well, get on with it."

"I am not opening that door!" McKay backed away.

"Just hit the chime," Carson insisted.

"You're the doctor round here, you must be used to seeing-"

"Rodney, if you want to live, do not finish that sentence…!"

"I'm not doing it." Ford shook his head.

"No, they are," Rodney quipped.

Teyla sighed and curled her hands into fists. She glared at the so-called 'men' present and stalked across to the door. Shutting her eyes, she pressed the chime. "Major? Doctor Weir?" She waited several seconds before she couldn't take it any more and scuttled back over to her male companions.

"Hit the door release…" Aiden proposed.

"You do it," Rodney replied.

"No way."

"So we're all gonna stand here and wait…I'm telling you, if we start to get audio, I am outta here…!"

"Perhaps we should simply leave…" Teyla suggested.

"And leave them to do what? Do we even know they're in there?" McKay shot at her.

"If the Major can send us to the command centre, how do we know he hasn't moved them somewhere else?" Ford asked.

Carson shook his head and sighed, wandering across the corridor to hit the button again. "Major! Doctor!" He jumped back as the door opened on its own, to reveal those in question in the doorway, looking perfectly innocent. He stared for a few moments before he found his voice. "I, er, Doctor, are you feeling better?"

Amarante smiled gently. "I am not Elizabeth."

"No, no, of course, you're not…"

Nikomedes strode out into the corridor, leading Amarante by the hand. "I want to go the chair room now. Maybe I can wake up more of the city if I know what I'm doing."

"Wait, wait." Amarante shook her head. "I want to ask them something." She directed her question at Carson. "I saw myself…I mean…I saw Elizabeth, here, all those years ago. And I have these memories, they're hers, of an older woman who was somehow also her. She understood…I don't…"

"We found in her stasis," it was McKay who answered. "She'd aged, slowly, and yes, it was Elizabeth, even though you...she was here with us. She'd try to change our fate. Apparently, the first time we got here…most of us died. She survived, ended up in the past, your Atlantis. Well, what was your Atlantis. She stayed behind to rotate the ZPM's when all the Ancients left."

Amarante blinked and looked up at Nik in shock. "You left…her…me…behind?"

"It wasn't you," he began, "and it wasn't me. I was born on Earth. Thousands of years after my ancestors left."

"But you are one of what they are calling Ancients."

"Technically yes. Descended from."

"And they left her behind…" She took several steps back, trying to twist her hand from his. "I've died twice in this city, twice for this city…because of your people."

"Mara, listen to me-"

"How many times could we have done this? Thousands upon thousands…time and space…by the gods, we really are insignificant." She suddenly halted. "Maybe it is best that your people left both here and my home after all."

"Not to be rude," Carson started, "but we would rather like to get the Major and Doctor Weir back at some point."

"If it's possible," Nikomedes answered.

"But we're right here." Amarante looked confused.

"Yes." Carson nodded. "You are…and you aren't. We've triggered something here and I'd quite like to know what's going on."

"To the chair room then?" Nik started to walk away.

"Looks like it…"

"Like we have a choice…" Ford muttered.

"This is most confusing… Are we to learn from this that we were all someone else before we were ourselves?" Teyla said softly.

"I don't know. I always thought it depended on what you believed. We've seen stranger."

"But what repercussions does this have? Will every citizen of Atlantis with the Ancient gene one day wake up as somebody else? What if we cannot get them back?" Teyla asked, her voice faint with concern.

Aiden reached for her hand, twining his fingers briefly with hers. "Then we get on with what we have to do. And we try and sort something out along the way. We won't lose people forever."

"I certainly hope not…"

* * *

Amarante glanced warily around at the room in which the chair was situated. She remained at the door, hesitant, until Nikomedes noticed she had halted. He glanced back and held out his hand again, concerned when she paused before joining her hand with his and followed him into the room. 

"You do know I don't know what I'm doing?" Nik questioned, when the others seemed to just be staring at him, expectantly. "I wasn't born here. I know what this city can do but not necessarily how to do it."

"With the enemies we've got wandering about this galaxy right now, any progress is progress. Unless you destroy the city of course, which, in fact would not…be progress…" McKay trailed off.

He frowned. "Why do I get the feeling I should've told you to shut up then?"

Carson hid a grin by staring quickly at the floor. "That'd be the Major."

"I see."

Amarante jumped when Teyla gently touched her arm. She stepped closer to her lover. "Yes?"

"Perhaps it would be safer for you away from the Ancient device," the Athosian proposed.

She shook her head, eyes still darting here and there, as if she expected something dreadful to leap out at them. "No, no…" She turned back to Nik, gripping his hand tighter. "This is wrong," she stated. "This is wrong, something isn't right. We have to go."

"Mara, it's nothing," he tried to reassure her. "Just deja-vu."

"I do not know what that means, but we have to go," she repeated. "Now. I don't like this. Please, Nik."

"It's okay, nobody can harm us."

"Please."

"If this is having an adverse affect, we should leav." Carson agreed.

"Then just how do you propose we get the Major or Elizabeth back with us?" Rodney demanded.

"You can't keep-" Ford began.

Seeing no quick decision being made, Amarante bolted for the door.

"Amarante!" Nik shouted after her. He ran a few paces in an attempt to catch her before she left.

She froze, all too still, and he swiftly became aware that she hadn't stopped because of him. She slowly turned around, eyes wide with fear, an expression rarely, if ever, seen on Elizabeth's face, and one that unnerved all those present.

Nikomedes turned to follow her gaze, already aware of what he would see when he did. He could sense it. Them. _Her_. He stepped in front of Amarante, glaring at the glowing figure that stood beside the chair.

The very same Ancient woman who had destroyed them stood in the centre of the room, smiling all too serenely, pleased that all eyes were on her. "Hello, Nikomedes." The smile vanished."I knew you would find a way to dispute their claim to their birthright."

"I did nothing," he replied, voice low. He was able to feel Amarante shaking as he linked his hand with hers again. "They did nothing. You can't control the universe, Serenity. Nobody counted on this. I'm not Nikomedes anymore. He didn't plan anything. He wasn't even destined to be here."

"It matters not," Serenity shot back. "You are here and so is she. Filthy little human wretch. I let her be. I left you alone; knew there was no chance of you remembering. But you always have to take it one step further…" She stepped forward. "This little fairytale ends now. You really should have known better."


	10. Chapter 10

Rodney was about to speak when Serenity merely glared at him and he took a step back. "Point taken."

"Who's to say this isn't cosmic payback for what you did to her? She put none of this in motion, didn't even know there was anything beyond her planet before she was _sent_ here." Nik was using John's knowledge of Elizabeth and felt as if he were somehow betraying her, and himself. "Leave it, Serenity. Leave them alone. Leave her alone. You want to destroy something again, destroy me. Let's face it: it's what you're here to do."

Serenity smiled, tilting her head back and stretching, somehow still not a single raven hair out of place when she looked back at him. "Always were the noble one, weren't you? Believing mankind could be so much more than we ever saw. You were destined for great things amongst our people. But you had to take a little Athenian woman into your heart and your bed. I'm not sure which disgusts me more."

"Because you all missed out?" Nikomedes taunted.

"Oh trust me, not one of our women wanted anything to do with you once they knew you'd been with her."

A muffled - almost hysterical - laugh was heard from Amarante at that moment. She ripped her hand away from Nik's and walked away, toward Serenity. "Because they were jealous that for all their power and supposed superiority, I could hold his attention when they could not."

"Do not provoke me, child," Serenity spat.

"What difference does it make?" she continued. "You are here to kill me whatever happens now, so I am going to say whatever I damn well please and know I said it well, rather than let you silence me twice." She glared up at the Ancient woman defiantly, making several of her companions wonder just how much of Elizabeth was present in those words.

"Should we not call for reinforcements?" Teyla whispered.

"I got it," Ford replied, activating his link to the communications system. "This is Ford. All available teams report to the central Atlantis systems contr-" He was abruptly silenced as a pulse of amber energy hit him head on, making him slump to the floor, dazed.

"Be silent," Serenity commanded, annoyed with the interruption. "This is none of your concern. Leave and you will live. This city is yours. Not his and certainly not _hers_." She glared back at Amarante.

It was Carson who folded his arms and leant back against the wall. "If you don't mind, lass, we'll be just fine here. It being 'our city' and all." He sighed, glancing across to Ford, who scrambled to his feet, trying not to show great concern in case Serenity decided to knock him down again. He met the young man's eyes and nodded.

A slow smile spread across Amarante's face. "This city _is_ mine. Elizabeth, Amarante, it doesn't matter. What matters is that my people are here and I will protect them until the day I die. They are _mine_ to protect and so is this city. If it means I die today and you leave them alone, then so be it."

Nikomedes nodded as he strode to stand beside her. "Not so insignificant now, huh?"

"You are fools." Serenity fumed.

"Maybe so. But at least we're fools together."

Amarante set her jaw and glared up at Serenity. "Get out of my city. _Now_."

"I'll destroy it before I leave it to you!" the Ancient cried.

"Did you hear something? I swear somebody was making a threat." Nik tilted his head. "Destroy Atlantis? Empty threats, dear sister. You'll never destroy this city, it's your last remaining great achievement. Destroy the Ancestors' home? I think not."

"Sister?" Rodney stammered.

"As much as that disgusts me," Nikomedes mumbled.

"I assure you the greater sickness is mine, brother," Serenity hissed. "Think of all you could have been, all our family could have done. All of us branded by your betrayal. I only achieved my status through your little pet's death by my own hand. And even then I wasn't good enough. Replaced by that brat Selene."

"So you took turns making us believe you were gods?" Amarante raged.

"We _are_ gods! More power than you could ever imagine flowing through us, something you will never comprehend. Somebody had to give some order to your lives."

"Order? You call that order? Wasting tribute and prayers that went unanswered, unless you felt like toying with us again. Miracles and acts of gods; women with half-breed children being exiled because nobody could explain how these children performed such miracles as seen by the 'gods'; no fathers because they left to become something more. People struck down because you felt like it. Anyone who dared to question you, even your own. You call yourself a goddess!"

"I didn't get to be a goddess thanks to the two of you," her voice was deadly low.

"So correct the mistake and pretend it never happened? Wipe us from existence and move on?" Nikomedes questioned.

"Bringing order to chaos," Serenity answered. "You never saw what we saw. You never Ascended with us. Past, present and future as one, every path, every possibility in an instant. If you had awakened the city you would have killed it. We discovered a human woman in our long lost city and didn't dare remove her from it. Time had been warped, distorted, we couldn't see the end. So we left her there and we hoped. But you would have destroyed it all."

"She saved your precious city."

"A version of Elizabeth Weir saved the city. If you can call it 'saving'."

"Elizabeth Weir is Amarante. So you have already killed her twice," he muttered.

"What happened to your 'no interference' policy?" Amarante demanded, using Elizabeth's knowledge. "Caused too much destruction in my time?"

"Serenity folded her arms. "This is not interfering. This is dealing with the aftermath of multiple errors."

"And what, you'll make another recording and stand before both our corpses and proclaim yourself superior, that the deed is done and Atlantis is finally safe?" her 'brother' scoffed.

"I will silence your souls forever and this city will prosper."

"Not without them it won't," Carson mumbled.

"Sibling rivalry? Jealously? Somebody should document this, 'Ancients not so superior after all'." Rodney commented.

"You want Atlantis to prosper? Leave us to _our_ city," Ford barked.

"You are nothing. You mean nothing. Do not pretend to know anything of my kind." Serenity glared around the room. "You are merely tools to bring Atlantis back to life."

"Better check this one, 'cause I think the power setting's wrong." The words were John's, but the power was Nikomedes', activating every power centre within that his future self was unaware of, glowing with a brighter light than that of even Serenity as his eyes pulsed silver. "Sorry, sister. This ends now." An energy discharge from his body hit the ceiling as light whirled round his wrists - power he flung full-force at the Ancient whilst concentrating and trying desperately not to burn out.

"Such power. Faith, hope, love, nothing, absolutely nothing." Serenity raised her right hand and effortlessly deflected the attack, smiling when she noted just where it would strike.

Amarante told herself to move, yet everything slowed down around her as she remained still, limbs not responding. She saw the trail of light, the horror in Nikomedes' eyes, and closed her own tightly as the energy struck her in the chest, sending her backward and crashing to the ground with no time for any exclamation of pain.

"Mara!"

Serenity stepped down from the platform, smiling cruelly. "You think love brought you back? Love brought you this. Watch her die again, by your own hand."

"Mara…" Nikomedes knelt, crouching over Amarante. He slid a hand behind her head to support her, whilst blood streamed from the corner of her mouth.

"Nik…" She coughed, forcing her eyes to open.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… Not again," he whispered. "My fault…all over again."

"Love you…forgive you…" Amarante gasped for breath. "…I…willingly." She smiled faintly as her eyes fell shut. "Let's go to Atlantis. Let's go…today…" Her head lolled to one side and she was all too still.

Serenity laid a hand on Nikomedes' shoulder. "Now you can't even Ascend. You will live, tortured by the knowledge you killed her. Again. And I might just be able to live with knowing that pain destroyed you too."

He stood, whirling round, furious, and shrugged her hand off his shoulder. He snatched a tight grip on her. "I can't Ascend, you're right. But you don't win here twice. You were right about one thing." His whole form pulsed brightly, glowing again, forcing energy to pass to her as she struggled to wrench her hand from his grip. "I could have been so much more. But so could _she_."

Serenity cried out in agony, trying to counter the charge he forced through her system.

"You don't get to be a god because you think you're fit to be. It happens when you're not looking, when you're too concerned with others to care about yourself. They make you a god, they make you the world, not your selfish desire." He pushed her away. "You would never have made goddess." He stumbled back as a thin shriek was heard from the changing form of Serenity, until no human form could be seen, only a faint light, that swiftly vanished. He exhaled, nodding once, before Nikomedes fell face down on the floor beside Amarante.

Teyla was already checking Elizabeth's pulse as Carson pulled John onto his back, checking for any sign that he was still breathing. He cursed under his breath and went to check his pulse, looking across at Teyla, to be met with a panicked look that he certainly hadn't wanted to see.

"Well, are they breathing? Pulse?" Rodney demanded.

Carson looked back at him, expression saying it all.

"…No."


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

When she woke in the morning, having finally trained her body back into a normal sleeping pattern, she was vaguely aware that the steady bleep of the heart monitor. She had let it lull her for several days, waking to a heart beat that wasn't her own, a sound that filled her with dread and yet assured her that he was still alive. In the darkness of the Infirmary during the designated night, she sometimes unsteadily crossed the short distance between their beds just to reassure herself that the machinery wasn't tricking her, that he was still alive and hadn't slipped away when nobody was looking. That would be just his style; he might play the brave and bold soldier, but given the chance, he'd always make a quiet exit, trying to remain unnoticed. She spent hours watching him when she couldn't sleep, turned on her side, just gazing, waiting, for something, anything, for him to jump up and say it had all been a joke. She was still alive. So it would take a while for her to get back her strength, get back to any sense of normality, but she was still here. So he had to be. Had to be.

Elizabeth had been unconscious for nearly a week, as if her body had forced her into a self-induced coma to protect her, to ensure she would recover. Everything running at the bare minimum, just enough to allow the healing process to begin. She'd been awake for just over a week, beginning to get more and more frustrated at her own frailty. There wasn't even a trace of a wound where the energy had struck her, though she wasn't sure whether that was due to it healing when she was unconscious or not. Her mind, she told herself, was working perfectly well, just her body had betrayed her and was determined to keep her from moving or doing anything that might threaten her recovery. She wondered just how much damage John had done to himself; she had merely been struck and was in such a state, he had discharged so much energy…she had no idea he had been capable of such a thing. Was every person with the Ancient gene just without the knowledge to perform similar feats? She was determined to extract a binding promise that, if he still knew how, he would never risk himself again by using the locked power he held. If he woke up. Which he had to.

She could no longer sense the presence of Amarante in her mind. Even the memories she held had started to fade, though she could no longer distinguish them from distant memories such as those of her early childhood. They were a part of her that she couldn't say were somebody else's memories. It was as if she remembered being exactly herself, as she was today, and not someone else, not the Athenian girl she knew she had been. Elizabeth hated herself for hoping that the consciousness of Nikomedes was gone from John's mind, that she would have the man she knew back, not the lover she fondly remembered. She wasn't certain exactly how she would react if he awoke as Nik. She remembered all of what had occurred before they had both…died. Yes, Carson had told her they had both been dead, their hearts had stopped, before their numerous attempts to revive them. The doctor had told her everything when he thought she was strong enough to hear it. Her consciousness had been so much blended with Amarante's at the time of their death she had felt as if she was speaking every word, experiencing every emotion as if it were her own. Maybe they had been. She couldn't distinguish between them. She wondered if it was the same for John, would ask him, if only he would wake up.

Elizabeth peered across at him again as she turned the page of her book, the bleep of his heart monitor now a permanent presence in her mind; she was sure she would know if it stopped even in her sleep. The silence would be deafening. She turned the page again, yawning, annoyed that she could suddenly get tired just reading a book. Elizabeth stubbornly continued to read, determined to at least finish the chapter.

* * *

When she next awoke, it was late in the afternoon. She stretched, belatedly reaching out to catch the book as it fell to the floor with a clatter that echoed round the room. 

"Careful."

Elizabeth stared across to the next bed, to see John sitting up, watching her. It had initially taken her two days to even consider summoning the energy to sit up and there he was just… Part of her wanted to throw herself across the room, to hold him and not let go, but, she reminded herself, she was an adult and such behaviour at this point might just scare him back into a coma. Plus, she wasn't quite ready to face the shooting pains through her limbs she knew would accompany the action. So she settled for just staring at him, not quite able to get her mind to form an adequate response short of the emotional extremes of breaking down or laughing with joy.

"You okay?" John asked, coughing, his voice not quite right. He saw the hesitant look on her face and carried on. "It's me, John… You okay?"

The immediate response of 'who else?' suddenly didn't sound so funny in her mind. "I should be asking you that." Elizabeth sat up.

"All intact." He tried a smile. "So the Doc says. Battered and pretty much broken, got a long way to go, but I'm still here." His smile broadened, contrasting with how he looked, like he just gone ten rounds with a bulldozer and lost. "And so are you."

She smiled. "And so am I."

He looked down for a moment. "Do you remember…"

"Everything?"

John nodded, gritting his teeth as shooting pains ran down his neck."Everything?"

"Everything," she confirmed, voice unusually soft and almost shy.

He yawned, clearly tired already, though she didn't know how long he'd been awake. She wondered why she hadn't woken at the commotion she was sure would have occurred when he regained consciousness.

"Could've told me you used to be an Athenian," he quipped.

Elizabeth considered throwing her pillow across at him, were it not so comfortable. "Could have told me you were an Ancient."

"Spoil the fun…" He sank back down into his bed, pulling the blanket up around him, wincing in pain.

"Careful. You might want to keep still for a few days," she offered, concerned.

John muttered a curse, remembering the surge of energy flowing through him. "…I had no idea I could do that, you know…the glowing thing..."

"And you're never doing it again."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

"Not even party tricks?"

"No."

Both were silent for several long minutes, wondering how exactly to continue. Neither wanted to make assumptions, based on the past or the present. One memory in particular was very dominant in both their minds, though neither dared to raise the issue.

"What happens now?" John was first to speak, quietly, as if already half-asleep. He forced his eyes to remain open, determined to stay conscious.

"I don't know," she answered.

He decided to brave the topic. "…Do you regret it?"

Elizabeth glanced across at him again. "No. I don't. Perhaps that's strange and maybe it would be best to forget it, but I don't regret it. Do you?"

His answer was more simple. "No."

She had spent many hours trying to decide whether she had truly had no control during their…interlude. It certainly hadn't felt as though she was being forced or controlled and she was scared to admit to even herself that perhaps Amarante's consciousness had been in the background for longer than she thought. She wasn't about to ask if it had been the same for him, not when she didn't know herself. But she didn't regret it…and somehow it didn't even worry her.

"So…" John exhaled. "What now?" he repeated.

"I guess…we see how things go. I think we're destined to spend a few more weeks in here. Then we get on with life. Maybe when things are a little less confusing… I don't know, John, I honestly don't know. I just…"

"Don't want to have us throw ourselves into something." He nodded, yawning again."…And It'd be nice to know we could walk more than a few metres without falling over before we even shuffle toward anything." He smiled back at her. "Right?"

Elizabeth returned the smile and nodded once, silently.

He drew the blanket tighter around himself. "See how things go. I like the sound of that." He shut his eyes. John immediately opened one eye and grinned at her. "Was pretty amazing though."

She tried to muffle her laughter and shook her head in mock dismay. "Yes," she replied, not trusting herself to say any more.

He closed his eyes again. "Maybe in the next life," he mumbled, sleepily.

"Don't even joke..."

**Fin**


End file.
